Effect of 3% topical trehalose on the rate of corneal re-epithelialization in patients undergoing photorefractive keratectomy

Abstract

Purpose: To study the changes in corneal re-epithelialization rate in patients undergoing surface photorefractive keratectomy by using 3% trehalose. Methods: This is a prospective, randomized, controlled clinical trial.The inclusion criteria were patients older than 18 years, with clinical and topographic criteria for refractive surgery, who agreed to participate in the protocol. Randomization was carried out to assign one eye of each patient to the control group with conventional treatment and the other eye to the experimental group with 3% trehalose plus conventional treatment. The free image processing software Image J was used to quantify the area of de-epithelialization in square millimeters. Results: The average number of epithelialization days was of 2.984 days in the experimental group and of 2.954 days in the control group (not statistically significant; p = 0.1624063). The area of de-epithelialization in the examination prior to reaching 100% epithelialization was of 4.255 mm 2 in the experimental group and 3.1762 mm 2 in the control group (not statistically significant; p = 0.0899374). Conclusions: Topical instillation of 3% trehalose does not increase the rate of corneal re-epithelialization in patients undergoing photorefractive keratectomy.